Sergio Perez blasted for ‘desperation’ move as latest criticism continues

Le Mans class winner Richard Bradley believes “desperation” pushed Sergio Perez into making a lunge on Kevin Magnussen at Suzuka which he did not need to make.

After a difficult race weekend for Perez and Red Bull in general at the Singapore Grand Prix, Perez was in need of a strong Suzuka outing to get back on the right path, though found that the exact opposite scenario came to pass.

In a Japanese Grand Prix which he retired from twice and picked up a pair of five-second time penalties, the only points which Perez received were four for his superlicence.

Sergio Perez collision with Kevin Magnussen branded “desperation”

Having required a new front wing following contact with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton at the start, Perez was in the wars again when he attempted to pass Magnussen at the hairpin, instead colliding with the Haas driver, who called it a “sh*tty” move from the under-pressure Red Bull racer.

Perez had actually retired his RB19 just as the five-second penalty for causing that Magnussen collision came through, thus drawing him back out to serve it, with speculation now swirling again over Perez’s Red Bull future after that Suzuka horror show.

And speaking during the On Track GP podcast, 2015 Le Mans class winner Bradley said Perez’s “desperation” spilled out in that Magnussen shunt.

“Desperation, I think that was it,” he said. “I think that frustration came in.

PlanetF1.com建议

F1 penalty points: Sergio Perez heftily punished for Suzuka transgressions

Fastest F1 pit stops: Ferrari secure Suzuka 1-2, in the pit lane at least

“Carlos Sainz after the race said that it was very difficult to overtake. And also for whatever reason, Suzuki is normally incredibly high grip, [but] for whatever reason this year, it wasn’t.

“And Sainz said that because of that, you had to be half a second plus quicker than the car in front, or up to a second quicker than the car in front to be able to easily overtake, so I detect a little bit of frustration coming in for Perez.

“Especially we know the Haas is not the best on degradation and he probably thought he wanted to get by that car sooner rather than later.

“And it was always weird, because with that hairpin, I mean, Suzuka, TV doesn’t do it justice, that place is so narrow. I remember when I had my first go at Suzuka, it was wet in Formula 3 and I came out of the second corner and I looked at the esses and I said in my helmet, ‘oh my Lord, this is very, very intimidating’, and it’s extremely narrow.

“And that hairpin wasn’t somewhere where you would ordinarily overtake or even think about overtaking in the past, and it’s ever since [Kamui] Kobayashi did his race in the Toyota and started overtaking people there, it’s become fashionable now to pass people into the hairpin.

”,有一个适当的发夹…这是一个very low-grip braking zone, it’s very, very easy to lock up. I always changed the brake bias when I go into there to stop locking up. And I think it does suck you in, it does make you want to go for that move, but he didn’t need to, a bit of desperation.”

There was still plenty of reason for Red Bull to celebrate in Suzuka, as Max Verstappen returned to winning ways in dominant fashion to clinch the 2023 Constructors’ Championship title for his team.

Read next:Ferrari urged to make sensational ‘blank cheque’ move for Max Verstappen